Hi everyone! Week one was a very interesting week of fishing to say the least. Our weather started out cold Saturday morning after a huge rain storm on Friday. We were worried about the fishing but after a little while of figuring them out we caught tons of walleye. Some big ones too! The rest of the week got hot. And when we say hot we mean HOT. It felt like August around here. In Red Lake it was a record high of 31 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
The hot, sunny weather made for some very tough fishing until everyone figured out where the walleyes were hiding. We found this week that the fish were way deeper than we expected. In places where we would normally be catching them in 6 feet of water we were catching them in 12-15 feet. The hot weather influenced that. No 30s were caught this week, but there were at least 10 in the 26-29-inch range. The walleyes wanted NOTHING but minnows this week. A handful were caught on shad raps and on some twister tails but very, very few. A slow presentation was the key to the get them to bite.
The bass fishing, unlike the walleyes was not hard to figure out. Anything you could throw on top of a rock or on a rocky shoreline was catching bass this week and big ones too! Best method we saw for bass was a shad rap. Tube jigs and twister tails were also very effective. We saw a handful of 18 inch bass pictures this week.
Northern were fairly predictable this week. The fishing in jackfish wasn’t as predictable as it normally is opening week due to the hot weather. Some boats would catch 10 one night and nothing the next. I assume that the fish were getting more active than normal with the water warming up at such a fast rate.
Another bonus to last week was crappies! They found crappies in shallow water (2-3 feet) along the edges of Ord Creek. Biggest one we saw come in was just over 2 lbs. Crappies will be sure to add even more fun to your vacation!
Happy fishing and safe travels!
-Manotak Lodge
